Japanese Spinach Salad (Ohitashi) - 4 ingredients + 5 min

One of my constant battle in eating well is consuming enough leafy vegetables; Malaysian food is severely lacking in greens. In Vietnam, each dish comes with a huge plate of local vegetables and herbs. In Japan and Korea, where presentation of food is very important, meals are mostly accompanied with colourful vegetables.

When I came back from a short stay with my Japanese host family, I was encouraged to eat like a Japanese for breakfast. The huge traditional meal which consist of plenty of greens kept me full and energetic until late noon. Okaasan serves the same breakfast everyday: rice, miso soup, fried egg, salad with sesame sauce and pickles. Though I normally do not like salad, I found incredible joy in eating them because the lettuce and tomatoes are planted and harvested from Otoosan’s farm.

Otoosan, my Japanese host father, tend to his vegetable farm every morningI only enjoy eating raw vegetables from the farm…

When I’m back home, I did make Japanese breakfast once in a while. But I realise that I always skip making the salad; raw vegetables from the market don’t taste the same as those harvested directly from farm.“Wakame is green right?” I lied to myself, as I ate my ‘vegetable-less’ Japanese breakfast.

So in my attempt to eat more leafy vegetables, I learned to make a simple Japanese Spinach Salad (ohitashi). It is just cooked spinach topped with dashi stock, soy sauce and bonito flakes. So easy to make, yet so tasty from umami-rich seasonings!

If you prefer cooked vegetables over raw salad, and like to eat more vegetables but lazy to cook elaborate meals, this is the recipe for you.

TOOLS

Large bowl (to wash/soak spinach)

Wok/ pot (to boil spinach)

Sieve/ chopsticks (to remove spinach from wok)

Mixing bowl (to wash spinach and place cold water)

Spoon

RECIPE CARD

Sara shares smart ideas to inspire busy people to live better lives. To achieve a work-life balance, she believes in equipping oneself with knowledge, outsourcing & making use of tools and technology. She's into quick & healthy meals, lifehacks, organization and productivity.